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Promises, Promises: New Year's Resolutions I'd Love to Hear
(December 26, 2001)
It's a tradition for this column to arrogantly and self-righteously offer New Year's resolutions for assorted public figures. I was thinking of skipping it this year, but then it hit me: If I don't write this column, the terrorists win! [ read more ]
The Enron Scandal: Why Was No One Minding The Store?
(December 19, 2001)
The headline-grabbing Enron scandal is proving to be a cattle prod thrust deep into the haunches of the political establishment. Suddenly, members of Congress are falling all over each other in an effort to grab a piece of the Enron investigation limelight. No fewer than eight House and Senate committees are already holding hearings or plan to hold them in the near future. [ read more ]
"What Were They Thinking?" 2001 Political Blunders
(December 17, 2001)
Politically, it's been a very weird year. In fact, 2001 was really three weird years wrapped in one. [ read more ]
A Child Left Behind: Johnny's Story
(December 13, 2001)
Ecstatic hosannas were being sung in Washington as the new education bill emerged from a House-Senate negotiating committee Tuesday. You'd think Christmas had come two weeks early. [ read more ]
On Flying High And Lowered Expectations
(December 10, 2001)
Skip the appointment with Madge the Manicurist. Put the squeeze on Mr. Whipple. Say good-bye to the Budweiser Frogs. Who needs those guys when you've got the 43rd president of the United States as your TV pitchman? He's got high name-recognition, comes with his own wardrobe, and, best of all, he's willing. [ read more ]
The Evildoers And The Misled
(December 06, 2001)
President Bush has made one thing clear: The war on terror is us vs. them. He's taken every opportunity to brand the terrorists and the Taliban as "the evil ones" -- the unmistakable contrast in this theological tableau being that we Americans are the "good ones." [ read more ]
Enron: Cooking The Books And Buying Protection
(December 03, 2001)
The opponents of campaign finance reform keep trying to convince us that it's a non-issue: a matter of inside-the-Beltway baseball that no one cares about except a few money-hating policy wonks. [ read more ]
Why I'm Not Sending Christmas Cards This Year
(November 28, 2001)
President and Mrs. Bush have vowed to go ahead and do it, and no two-bit terrorist is going to stop them. From sending out Christmas cards, that is. [ read more ]
Girl Power: Hermione Granger and the Women of Afghanistan
(November 21, 2001)
I have a girl-power double feature playing in my head right now. On one screen of my mental multiplex is the larger-than-life face of Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's fearless, brilliant, passionate and dedicated partner in his battle against evil -- perfectly portrayed in the new movie by young actress Emma Watson. [ read more ]
Support Our Troops, Dump That SUV
(November 14, 2001)
On the way to my daughter's school this morning, I encountered the usual L.A. rush-hour road rally of elephantine sports utility vehicles, many flying American flags. Taking the cake was a massive SUV proudly sporting half a dozen -- one on each window and two on the bumper. My first thought was, how patriotic! My second was, how much more patriotic it would be to trade in the gas-guzzling leviathan for something that sips, rather than chugs, at the gas pump. [ read more ]
In The Drug Companies We Trust?
(November 07, 2001)
To hear the drug companies tell it, in this time of national crisis, theyíve been as patriotic as Patrick Henry, as generous as Andrew Carnegie, and as selfless as Mother Teresa. [ read more ]
Operation Enduring Avarice
(October 31, 2001)
According to our leaders, we are not supposed to let the war on terror disrupt our normal lives. And, to their credit, they're leading by example. For instance, far from the war disrupting the House's normal run of shameless corporate toadying, it's enhancing it. [ read more ]
The Gary Conditization Of The Terror Story
(October 24, 2001)
We interrupt our regularly scheduled column for the following fast-breaking public safety alert: Watching the news may be hazardous to your health -- and may be damaging the well-being of our entire nation. In much the same way that the terrorists hijacked our airplanes and turned them into flying bombs, they are now on the verge of successfully hijacking our airwaves. [ read more ]
Some Things Never Change: The Unbearable Ludicrousness Of Polling
(October 18, 2001)
The world has changed forever. That's what everyone has been saying, and saying again, since Sept. 11. In many ways, it's obviously true: Who would have thought that opening your mail without a hazmat crew standing by would qualify as risky behavior? [ read more ]
Men, Women ... And Thinking The Unthinkable
(October 10, 2001)
When it comes to matters of the heart, we've been sold the premise that Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Maybe, maybe not. But when it comes to thinking the unthinkable, the sexes are most definitely from different planets. [ read more ]
Is Normal The Best We Can Do?
(October 02, 2001)
The Gospel of Normalcy is being preached from the bully pulpit as our leaders try to convince patriotic Americans to return as quickly as possible to their normal lives. [ read more ]
Land Of The Free?
(September 24, 2001)
Since Sept. 11, we've been told again and again that our failure to act in a certain way would be the moral equivalent of allowing the terrorists to win. As in: "If we don't get back to work, they win"; or "If we don't go ahead and play football this weekend, they win"; or "If this changes the way we think about Arab-Americans, they win." [ read more ]
Where Were the Lobbyists for the Public Good?
(September 20, 2001)
As we continue to dig, both literally and figuratively, through the rubble left by last Tuesday's terrorist attack, it is becoming shockingly clear just how much the powers-that-be knew about our country's vulnerability -- and how little they did to ensure our safety. [ read more ]
A Wake-Up Call For The Media Oligarchy?
(September 13, 2001)
Even before the twin towers fell on Tuesday, the media hunt for the villains had begun. Informed speculation immediately suggested the handiwork of Osama bin Laden. Lesser culprits faced charges from different quarters: our current administration, the previous administration, all the way down to the airport security guards and check-in personnel who failed to spot the hijackers. [ read more ]
A Blast From The Past: Nuclear Madness Sweeps White House
(September 06, 2001)
To make the world safer. That's the justification by the Bush administration for its missile defense shield. But, as is often the case with the Bushies, once they have a goal, they let no facts or logic stand in their way, even if they contradict the original motivation. So just how far is the White House willing to go to build support across the globe for its missile defense shield obsession? Further than any sane person would imagine. [ read more ]
So Much For Restoring Integrity To The White House
(August 30, 2001)
You may think that picking the winner of last week's Political Hubris Trophy -- awarded intermittently to the public figure who best exemplifies excellence in stonewalling, obfuscation, hypocrisy and arrogance -- was a no-brainer: Gary Condit in a landslide, right? Wrong. The prize actually goes to the Bush White House for its high-handed -- and hamfisted -- actions on behalf of its paymasters in the Big Energy lobby. It would be fun to say that Condit came in second by a hair, but, in fact, it wasn't even close. [ read more ]
The Very Uncurious President
(August 23, 2001)
Gather 'round little ones. It's story time. Today's is a scary one. It's about a president utterly lacking in imagination. It's called "The Very Uncurious President." [ read more ]
The Other Side Of The Mountain: A Single-Payer Education Plan
(August 16, 2001)
In between golf outings and $1,000-a-plate fund-raisers -- apparently known in Crawford as "work" -- President Bush found time this week to pay a visit to an elementary school in Albuquerque, N.M., to read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and talk about the concerns and aspirations of parents as they send their kids off to school. Very "Home to the Heartland-y." [ read more ]
Of Pharisees And Photo-Ops
(August 09, 2001)
Did you see the shocking, scandalous and utterly offensive photo on the front page of the paper this Sunday morning -- in full color and above the fold? No, I'm not talking about Gary Condit running the 100-yard media dash or Madonna writhing on the back of a mechanical bull. I'm talking about the disturbing picture of the president and his Cabinet bowing their heads in prayer. [ read more ]
6 Million Disenfranchised Voters? Perhaps We Should Do Something About It
(August 06, 2001)
If you believe that the toothless report issued last week by the National Commission on Federal Election Reform will have even the slightest impact on future elections, then you probably also believed Commission co-chair Jimmy Carter's abrupt about-face on his scathing assessment of President Bush. [ read more ]
K-12: Time For A Total Recall
(August 02, 2001)
If it were a product, it would have been recalled. If it were a politician, it would have been impeached. If it were a horse, it would have been taken behind the barn and shot. [ read more ]
Let Them Eat Marbles!
(July 30, 2001)
Having handed the interior portfolio to Gale Norton (who famously added "the right to pollute" to our many freedoms), President Bush has now appointed another fox to guard a henhouse. This time, it's Mary Sheila Gall, whom he's nominated to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission despite her tendency to blame consumers rather than manufacturers when defective products injure or kill. [ read more ]
Books Not Bars: The Anti-Prison Backlash
(July 26, 2001)
The last 20 years have been a boom time for America's jailers. New prisons have been popping up at a rate even McDonald's would envy, while the number of people living behind bars has quadrupled: "Over 2 million dissatisfied customers served." [ read more ]
Clueless In Tallahassee
(July 23, 2001)
After judiciously recusing himself from any official role in the Florida recount, Gov. Jeb Bush vowed to avoid even the "slightest appearance of a conflict of interest," promising that no political work concerning the disputed election would be done by him or his staff on taxpayer time. [ read more ]
Personal Grief, Public Crusades
(July 19, 2001)
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross famously identified the five stages of grieving as denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. But things have changed. In our media-driven age, there is now a clearly identifiable sixth stage: going on TV. [ read more ]
Good Morning, Colombia
(July 16, 2001)
For more than a year, critics of our government's drug war aid package to Colombia (now hovering at $2 billion) have been warning of the mission creep that threatens to embed us ever deeper in that country's 4-decade-old civil war. [ read more ]
Bush Education Bill Leaves Real Reform Behind
(July 12, 2001)
'My second working day as president,' George W. Bush said during his latest weekly radio address, 'I sent to Congress the boldest plan to improve our public schools in a generation.' [ read more ]
Conservation: Our Leaders Fiddle While The Public Turns
(July 09, 2001)
The recent precipitous drop in George W. Bushís approval rating is by no means the worst news for the White House. After all, presidential approval ratings tend to have more ups and downs than a roller coaster filled with manic-depressives. [ read more ]
The Fearless Factor
(July 03, 2001)
Now don't get me wrong -- I'm all for looking at the bright side of things. Growing up, Pollyanna was one of my favorite stories. I own more than a few pairs of rose-colored glasses. I even still pop "Don't Worry, Be Happy" into the CD player now and then. In short, I'm a glass-half-full kind of girl. [ read more ]
The Matchmakers' Ball
(July 02, 2001)
Were you at last week's $2,500-a-plate "black tie and boots" fund-raiser for the Republican Party? If you're an ordinary citizen, I'm guessing you weren't. But among those dining on grilled tenderloin and sweet potato and corn souffli with President Bush and Vice-President Cheney were a gaggle of lobbyists calling themselves "The Washington Program." This group's co-chairmen included two lobbyists, Bruce Gates and Kim McKernan, who are taking the lead against the patients' bill of rights currently being fought over on the Hill. [ read more ]
George W. Bush And The Death Of Leadership
(June 28, 2001)
As the dog days of summer approach, itís becoming clear that George W. Bushís presidential 'To Do' list is even shorter than his attention span: 'Tax rates down? Check. Energy prices up? Check. T-ball given its rightful place in the national spotlight? Check. Checks in the mail? Check.' [ read more ]
A Monument To Distorted Priorities
(June 11, 2001)
No one ever went broke overestimating the ability of a politician to choose gesture over substance. As if we needed any more evidence of Washington's distorted priorities, President Bush and Congress have handed us a truly monumental new example. And this one will be hard to hide. [ read more ]
Mandated Testing: Promoting A Game Show Education
(June 06, 2001)
As the newly reconstituted Senate returns to its debate over the education bill, a series of unexpected brushfires have broken out across the country. They're a backlash against the Education President's hallmark plan to mandate yearly testing of all students in grades three through eight. [ read more ]
How The Other 1 Percent Lives
(June 04, 2001)
After three nights with Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed" as my bedside reading, I've started having bad dreams. [ read more ]
Bush And Rove Flunk The Final At The Atwater School Of Politics
(May 31, 2001)
Lee Atwater must be spinning in his grave. Judging by their bungling of the Jeffords Affair, the two most powerful graduates of the Atwater School of Hardball Politics, George W. Bush and Karl Rove (Class of '88) have regrettably and dramatically missed the final -- and most important -- lesson of their teacher's life. [ read more ]
The Mauling Of America
(May 28, 2001)
So sorry I missed last week's National Rifle Association convention in Kansas City -- sounds like it was a doozy. Moses was elected to an unprecedented fourth term as president. Pistol-packing Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton brought good tidings from President W. And NRA mouthpiece Wayne LaPierre helpfully updated the group's list of People We Hate, now headed by the United Nations -- which this summer will hold a gun-control summit. [ read more ]
Rudy And Judi: The Joy Of No Sex
(May 24, 2001)
It seems that every couple of years our political world forces us to reexamine what exactly constitutes sex. After the exhaustive, near-Talmudic, Clinton debate on whether oral sex is sex -- and, indeed, adultery -- comes the Giuliani version questioning whether limp sex is sex -- and, indeed, adultery. [ read more ]
Bush's Energy Plan: Chicken Little Meets Pollyanna
(May 21, 2001)
You'll forgive me if this column feels a little rushed, but after listening to the president introduce his new energy plan, I'm hurrying to get it done before the lights go out and my computer runs out of juice. [ read more ]
Bush's Drug Policy: "The Thing With Two Heads"
(May 17, 2001)
When George W. Bush introduced John Walters as his new drug czar last week, it was the strangest example of being of two minds since Ray Milland and Rosie Grier shared the same torso in "The Thing With Two Heads." [ read more ]
The Race For Mayor: Fear And Innuendo In Los Angeles
(May 14, 2001)
Los Angeles, it's no secret, is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in America. Almost 50 percent of the population is Latino. Yet the last time L.A. had a Latino mayor was more than 125 years ago. [ read more ]
The Drug War Goes Private
(May 10, 2001)
When long-time drug warriors like Congressmen Dan Burton and Mark Souder start blasting American anti-drug efforts in Latin America, you know that something is rotten in Peru. And Colombia. And Washington. [ read more ]
Washington On Our Schools: "If It's Broke, Don't Fix It"
(May 07, 2001)
Let's hope no one even remotely contemplating suicide was watching last week's Senate debate over President Bush's education plan. It was so depressing, C-SPAN's coverage should have been sponsored by Prozac. [ read more ]
Al Gore: The First Hundred Days
(May 03, 2001)
You couldn't turn on the TV or open a newspaper last week without being hit in the face with yet another analysis of President Bush's First Hundred Days. But all I could think of was: What about the other guy? You know, the one who won the popular vote by over 500,000 and came within a single, late-night Supreme Court ruling of becoming Leader of the Free World. So I did a little digging to see what he's been up to. Here's what I found out. [ read more ]
Painting The White House Green
(April 30, 2001)
The Bush administration's environmental agenda is no longer about public policy. It's no longer even about balancing "good science" and economic costs. It's purely and simply about spinning. [ read more ]
Hypocrisy 101: W. Gets Tough On "Youthful Indiscretions"
(April 26, 2001)
America's insane drug war claimed fresh victims last week. The casualties were rightly front-page news -- a child and her mother murdered in the skies of Peru in the name of protecting our children from drugs. [ read more ]
Will The Tailor Of New Jersey Snuff Out 'The Torch'?
(April 23, 2001)
Sen. Bob Torricelli -- aka "The Torch" -- has become legendary for his fund-raising prowess, breaking all soft-money records as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2000. Along the way, he earned a reputation as someone willing to push the legal limits in his pursuit of campaign cash: Seven donors to his 1996 Senate run have pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions, and three of his campaign staff face federal indictment. [ read more ]
Drug Companies: Sell Hard, Sell Fast ... And Count The Bodies Later
(April 19, 2001)
For over three years, the big pharmaceutical companies have been spit-shining their image as mankind's saviors while simultaneously waging a legal battle to keep low-cost versions of life-saving drugs from the millions of people dying of AIDS in Africa. [ read more ]
Just A Test: Bush's Inadequate Education Plan
(April 16, 2001)
When it comes to the budget, education is clearly George W. Bushís fair-haired child. While most federal programs are being sent to their rooms without supper, the presidentís signature issue is being treated to an 11.5-percent spending increase. But the response is completely inadequate to the magnitude of the crisis. [ read more ]
Bush's "Fat-Free" Budget: Pass The Corporate Gravy
(April 12, 2001)
When releasing his first budget this week, President Bush made it sound like a watershed event: "This budget offers a new vision for our nation," he proclaimed. "It also represents a new way of doing business in Washington, and a new way of thinking." [ read more ]
Bush's Environmental Policies: Where's The Untainted Beef?
(April 09, 2001)
Last Thursday, front-page stories trumpeted the Bush administration's decision to end mandatory testing for salmonella in hamburger meat served in federal school lunch programs. [ read more ]
Joseph, George W. And The Amazing Technicolor Recession
(April 05, 2001)
There are already plenty of things to blame George W. Bush for, but our sputtering economy is categorically not one of them. [ read more ]
What You Don't Know May Be Killing You
(March 29, 2001)
So far, George W. Bush's go-to applause line during his presidency has been: "It is not the government's money, it is the people's money." [ read more ]
Political Oscars 2001: And The Winners Are ...
(March 26, 2001)
With the line separating politics and show biz becoming harder and harder to discern -- productions of both industries have skyrocketing budgets and are based almost completely on make believe -- last year I decided to launch an awards column recognizing outstanding achievements in the burgeoning field of politainment. [ read more ]
The Education Of John McCain
(March 22, 2001)
John McCain should take a lesson from history. Thirty-six years ago, in March 1965, Martin Luther King met with President Lyndon Johnson to press for a voting rights bill. LBJ wavered, certain that the votes needed for passage weren't there. King left the meeting convinced that the votes would never be found in Washington until he turned up the heat in the rest of the country. Two days later, the "Bloody Sunday" confrontation in Selma, Ala., captured the conscience of the nation. Five months later, the Voting Rights Act became the law of the land. [ read more ]
The Letter Christie Todd Whitman Should Write
(March 19, 2001)
In a perfect world -- you know, one in which presidents kept their promises and Environmental Protection officials actually protected the environment -- Christie Todd Whitman would have turned in her letter of resignation by now. But since I know how busy she is scrambling to and fro on damage-control duty, I decided to save her some time by penning this first draft for her: [ read more ]
Making An Issue Of Issue Ads
(March 15, 2001)
As the forces trying to derail McCain-Feingold continue to mass at the border, a just-released study conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice, with the support of the Pew Charitable Trusts, makes it clear why one key component of the legislation ó the restricting of so-called issue ads ó is so desperately needed. [ read more ]
Bush's Faith-Based Initiative: Time To Change The Debate
(March 12, 2001)
The uproar over President Bush's Faith-Based Initiative has been so intense that the White House has decided to pull it back for retooling. [ read more ]
Dick Cheney's Suicide Mission
(March 07, 2001)
OK, everybody, listen up: The time has come for the nation to stage an intervention. We need to come together and convince the vice president that he needs to step down. And not just to save his life, but potentially to save the lives of millions of Americans. [ read more ]
Congress: The Real Pros At Quid Pro Quo
(March 05, 2001)
While the House Government Reform Committee was picking through the increasingly rotten carcass of the Marc Rich case last Thursday, looking for what Chairman Dan Burton called the 'quid pro quo' of 'money for pardons,' one block away on the floor of the House, another, even more glaring, example of the disturbing link between political donations and political decision-making was on display. [ read more ]
Tax Cuts And Seduction
(March 01, 2001)
So the president passed the dodo test -- there were no malapropisms, no garbled syntax, no blank deer-caught-in-the-TelePrompTer stares. Indeed, he was gracious and charming and exuded more confidence than at any time since he stepped on the national stage. He even earned a few of the 88 "spontaneous" eruptions of applause he was given. [ read more ]
It's Time To Disarm The Hired Guns
(February 26, 2001)
The American Bar Association must be very proud. Lawyers havenít gotten this much bad press since the Dream Team set O.J. free to vent his road rage on unsuspecting Florida motorists -- and, oh, yeah, search for the real killers. [ read more ]
'Traffic' Jams The Drug War
(February 22, 2001)
In the 1840s, Benjamin Disraeli wrote "Sybil," a novel that warned his countrymen of the danger of England disintegrating into "two nations between whom there is no sympathy, as if they were inhabitants of different planets." The book became a sensation, and the outrage it provoked propelled fundamental social reforms. [ read more ]
Economic Chivalry Is Not Dead
(February 19, 2001)
Alfred Marshall, one of the founding fathers of modern capitalism, called it "economic chivalry" -- the idea that businessmen have responsibilities beyond the bottom line. "The desire of men for the approval of their own conscience," he wrote in "Principles of Economics," "is an economic force of the first order of importance." [ read more ]
Random Acts Of Leadership
(February 15, 2001)
One of Bill Clinton's last acts in office was his release of the second half of the $1.3 billion to Colombia. Shockingly, the military aid, which was supposed to be linked to human rights improvements, was released as news reports were coming in about the most horrific of a growing number of massacres committed by the paramilitary. The bludgeoning of 26 men in the village of Chengue was the latest in a series of political killings by these right-wing death squads, financed by the narco-traffickers and linked to the military we are training and supporting with Plan Colombia. [ read more ]
Rich Man's Justice
(February 12, 2001)
"We not only have a pardon problem," said Rep. Chris Shays during the House hearing on the pardon of Marc Rich. "We have a revolving door problem." We sure do. [ read more ]
Brothers In Charms?
(February 08, 2001)
It's official: George W. Bush is the Sally Field of Washington. They like him. They really, really like him! The president's "charm offensive" has been declared a smashing success. To hear the press tell it, Democrats are "smitten" and Washington is the midst "of a love affair." [ read more ]
George W. Bush: Soul Brother No. 1?
(February 05, 2001)
Toni Morrison famously called Bill Clinton America's "first black president." Meanwhile, George W. Bush famously pulled in only 8 percent of the black vote, the lowest since Barry Goldwater in 1964. [ read more ]
New Polls Are In: 100% Shameless
(February 01, 2001)
Big news: Elvis is alive. Or at least his spirit is. I felt it zip right through me the other day as I was watching CNN and had the sudden impulse to take out a .44-caliber Magnum and finally make the dream of interactive TV a reality. What brought me to the brink of blowing away my Sony was the announcement of a new poll that found that George W. Bush holds a 5-point lead over Al Gore in the race to occupy the White House in 2004. They haven't even finished cleaning up the confetti from Inauguration 2000, and pollsters are already handicapping Presidential Horse Race 2004. [ read more ]
Poverty 2001: Searching For America's Heart
(January 29, 2001)
On Monday morning, President Bush announced the establishment of a new White House office of faith-based and community initiatives intended to help the neediest Americans by integrating religious organizations into the provision of social services. The announcement came at the same time as Alan Greenspan was making it official that the economy is at nearly "zero growth" and as I was reading "Searching for America's Heart," the just-released book by Peter Edelman, who resigned as assistant secretary of Health and Human Services when Bill Clinton signed the welfare reform bill. [ read more ]
Gray Davis: The Failure Of Power
(January 25, 2001)
Money equals power. That's the truism that's becoming truer every day in Washington -- and that's driving the renewed push for campaign finance reform. And if you go 3,000 miles west, you'll see just how true it's become. There are many angles to the California energy crisis, but the one with the most urgent national implications -- now that the president and Sen. John McCain have met for a "friendly" chat about McCain-Feingold -- is the role campaign contributions play in determining policy and in blinding politicians to the consequences. With Big Power's donations filling their coffers, California's leaders have been suffering even more rolling blackouts than its citizens. [ read more ]
Not Your Forefather's Inauguration
(January 22, 2001)
WASHINGTON -- Ever since George Washington delivered an inaugural address so inspiring that even his embittered rival John Adams was moved to tears, presidential inaugurations have traditionally been a ceremonial coming together of the victors and the vanquished -- a bury-the-hatchet celebration of democracy, infused with the idea that what unites us is far more important than what divides us. [ read more ]
Ashcroft, Kennedy, Reno And Racial Justice
(January 18, 2001)
The best news about the Ashcroft confirmation hearing is that, at least, we are not talking about his nanny. It's high time we stopped assuming that the only legitimate way to challenge a nominee is through the unearthing of private scandals -- drink, drugs, sordid sex and the occasional undocumented Mary Poppins. Instead of indulging in the politics of personal destruction, let's by all means engage in the politics of personal convictions and drop the pretense that the Senate's "advise and consent" does not extend to a nominee's beliefs. [ read more ]
Presidential Afterthoughts: Clinton's True Legacy
(January 15, 2001)
"We don't have a moment to lose." So wrote the author of an op-ed in Sunday's New York Times whose tagline read simply "William Jefferson Clinton is the 42nd president." He used the space to put forth "a concrete set of challenges and recommendations" that he's sending to Congress -- what he called the "unfinished business of building One America." Well, why start so soon when you've got a whole five days left? [ read more ]
Maximus McCain -- Gladiator For Reform
(January 11, 2001)
I caught "Gladiator" on DVD this weekend. It was striking what an uncanny resemblance 2nd century Rome bears to 21st century Washington. The old crowd reassembling in the capital looks oh-so-solid, powerful and impenetrable -- not unlike the emperor Commodus, who, as it happens, was also a spoiled, second-generation ruler. [ read more ]
Bush's Drug Czar: A Modest Proposal
(January 08, 2001)
While the Washington media are all a titter about the expected confirmation battle over Attorney General-designee John Ashcroft -- does he or doesn't he have a statue of Robert E. Lee tucked away in his closet? -- next to no attention is being paid to the fact that a vital cabinet-level position remains unfilled. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey is gone -- can't you feel the void? -- but no one is even speculating about who President-elect George W. Bush will name to succeed him. [ read more ]
King Midas And The DNC
(January 04, 2001)
The announcement that Democratic Fundraiser-in-chief Terry McAuliffe has been all but anointed as the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee is a ringing public acknowledgement of what has been a reality for some time now: the devolution of political parties into fundraising machines. In the past, with DNC chairs like Senator Christopher Dodd, Colorado Governor Roy Romer and Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell, there was at least the veneer that the DNC was about more than raising money. [ read more ]
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